By Lorraine Mirabella
Baltimore Sun
Originally published February 1, 2006

A Philadelphia developer plans to build what would be the tallest tower in
Baltimore on one of the last undeveloped parcels along the Inner Harbor,
a multimillion-dollar project to include luxury condominiums, a boutique
hotel and retailers such as a spa and a gourmet grocer.

ARC Wheeler Group, a joint venture of Clifton, N.J.-based ARC Properties
and Philadelphia-based Wheeler Group, is scheduled to make its first
formal presentation of plans for the Light Street tower Feb. 16, when
the project will go before the city Urban Design and Architecture Review
Panel.

Company representatives said yesterday that the developer hopes to close on the 2-acre site, in a prime location between the Hyatt Regency and
Harbor Court hotels, within two months and begin construction this summer,
with completion by 2009. The site, once home to a McCormick & Co. spice
plant, is now a parking lot operated by its owner, Central Parking Corp.

The developer envisions a tall, slim tower, with 200 to 250 luxury
condominiums, shops and a hotel that could compete on a national level as
destination lodging. Though it has not been determined how tall it would
be, the developer expects it to soar higher than any other building
downtown, said Jon Laria, an attorney at Ballard, Spahr, who is
representing ARC Wheeler. At a projected 1.2 million square feet, the
project would dwarf nearby structures.

The 529-foot, 35-story Legg Mason Building at 100 Light St. is the city's
tallest, followed closely by the art deco Bank of America building at 10
Light St. Along the Inner Harbor, the T. Rowe Price headquarters at 100 E.
Pratt St. has the most space, with about 656,000 rentable square feet.

The nine-story Montgomery Park, the sprawling, redeveloped Montgomery Ward
catalog warehouse in Southwest Baltimore, is the city's largest, with
1.194 million square feet.

An 'elegant building'
The ARC Wheeler project will be designed by New York architect Robert A.M.
Stern and probably will be tall and slim as opposed to shorter and
broader, Laria said.

"That's what the harbor deserves," he said. "It will be a very elegant
building."

Laria said ARC Wheeler has strong relationships in the financial community
and is confident it would get funding for the project.

A spokesman for Mayor Martin O'Malley said the project, with an estimated
cost of about $300 million, would represent a huge private investment in
the downtown.

"We would welcome that kind of private development on a long-vacant piece
of land," Rick Abbruzzese said yesterday.

But he cautioned that the project, which is at a preliminary stage, would
undergo thorough review during the design and approval process.

M.J. "Jay" Brodie, president of the Baltimore Development Corp., who met
with representatives of ARC Wheeler last summer after they signed the
contract to buy the property, declined to comment on the project yesterday.

Brodie has said previously that under the urban renewal plan governing the
Inner Harbor, a developer could build about 1 million square feet of space
for a range of uses, including a hotel, offices, shops, housing and a
garage. He and others at the BDC encouraged the developer to consider
including ground-floor retail space to lend liveliness at street level.

Kirby Fowler, president of the Downtown Partnership, said the developer's
plans mesh with the goal of creating a 24-hour downtown.

"Every project we've been working on in the last two years has been a
mixed-use project, and we continue to encourage developers to have
mixed-use projects," Fowler said. "I feel like we've crossed an important
threshold in downtown, where more and more people will begin to move in,
and it will feed on itself.

"One of the benefits of allowing for greater height is the possibility of
getting some high-quality architecture, and I believe this project could
deliver on that potential," Fowler said.

Baltimore is primed for an upscale, signature project as waterfront condo
development is booming and hotel/condo projects by Ritz Carlton and Four
Seasons are under development, Laria said.

"There is room in this market for all of these projects," he said. "The
idea that you could have projects of this prominence, a Ritz and a Four
Seasons, indicates that Baltimore is ready for this quality of
development